2004-04-07
If Arch Enemy are the Iron Maiden of death metal, then Immemorial are its Slayer.
This is the second album by this angry polish band, and their first for Conquer Records, I admit I didn’t get the chance to hear them before, but it seems to me they got their path well prepared.
Musically the band deals in fast and furious death metal, using some thrash like riffs, at the base is their vocalist, Karla, if another female vocalist, Arch Enemy’s one, deals in the upper range of death metal vocals, Karla is more in the middle to low range. And the surprise is great when finding out this is a female vocalist.
From the riffs and the over whole feel of the music, I sense some serious Morbid Angel influences, some of the songs reminded me of Altars Of Madness,
Sound wise its excellent, the sound is sharp and clear, the guitars being given a bit of a raw edge, which actually supports the band’s aggressive feel.
Drummer… let’s just say this guy stands up the fame usually inherit in being a polish death metal drummer, he beats the drums senseles, waiting precious few seconds before delving into a massive blast beat in the opening track.
The disk opens with the customary intro, then goes into the first murder feast, named Angel Of Sorrow, the style and speed do not tend to vary during the album, but its hardly surprising, anyone listening to an aggressive death metal band would not want them surprising him with a sudden love ballad…
The CD does deliver quite a few solid death metal tracks, among them “Day Of Anger’ and “Longing For A Sin”.
The one thing I would have changed is the album’s cover, very atypical to a death metal band, and its something that may deter buyers when seeing it at the music store, the logo, very death metalish in its nature, does compensate a bit.
To cut things short, if melodic Swedish death metal is hot chocolate, than Immemorial is a strong cup of espresso.
Not for the faint hearted!
Alon Miasnikov
